Online had a strong February

Still, internet-based gambling in Pennsylvania brought in nearly $19.5 million in revenue for its best month yet.

That’s a 39.6% increase over January when revenue totaled just under $14 million. Online casinos brought in $6.8 million in tax revenue last month.

Retail casinos were healthy in February with slot revenue across the state’s 12 land-based casinos at nearly $200 million, which was a 5.1% increase year over year. Table games brought in $77.4 million in revenue across operators, an increase of 4.6%.

Next month’s numbers should be interesting, with 12 brick-and-mortar casinos all shuttered by March 17 to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

A Lititz, PA, man won the Divine Fortune jackpot while playing online at PlaySugarHouse. He hit the jackpot with a $1 bet, winning $278,430.23. It was his second time hitting the jackpot in less than a month.

Check our games tracker for weekly updates on PA casino game offerings.

Online poker players on the rise with casino closings

Parallel with state-ordered casino closures, the number of players logged onto PokerStars PA began to rise around March 17.

Nightly checks of traffic by PlayPennsylvania contributors show the number of players logged onto PokerStars PA has more than doubled over the last week.

The number had run around 1,400 a night to 1,700, but it’s been around 3,400 to 3,600 more recently. Our recent PlayPennsylvania report includes a detailed table.

Kevin Shelly

Kevin C. Shelly is an award-winning career journalist who has spent most of his career in South Jersey. He's the former assistant city editor of The Press of Atlantic City, where he covered the casino industry and Atlantic City government as a reporter. He was also an investigative, narrative enterprise, and features reporter for Gannett’s Courier-Post.